US 12,000,801 B1
Identifying material used in water pipes using acoustic wave analysis
Marc Bracken, Oakville (CA); Antonio Laranjo Da Costa, Oakville (CA); William Philip Maize, Oakville (CA); and Declan Bracken, Oakville (CA)
Assigned to Solinas Technologies Inc., Ontario (CA)
Filed by Solinas Technologies Inc., Oakville (CA)
Filed on Jun. 9, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/332,071.
Int. Cl. G01N 29/46 (2006.01); G01N 29/04 (2006.01); G01N 29/28 (2006.01)
CPC G01N 29/46 (2013.01) [G01N 29/04 (2013.01); G01N 29/28 (2013.01); G01N 2291/023 (2013.01); G01N 2291/106 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for identifying a material of a water pipe buried below ground, the method comprising:
generating controlled vibrations in the water pipe using a vibration exciter;
detecting a vibration response associated with the water pipe in response to the controlled vibrations using a vibration transducer in vibrational communication with the water pipe;
converting the vibration response from a time-domain response to a frequency-domain response by applying a Fourier transform algorithm;
using a vibration signal analyzer, analyzing the frequency-domain response to identify at least one dominant peak;
identifying a frequency associated with the at least one dominant peak as a resonant frequency of the water pipe; and,
identifying the material of the water pipe based on a comparison of the resonant frequency of the water pipe to a known resonant frequency of a known water pipe material.